Phillip Lieurance, a 36-year-old man from Emporia, Kansas, will face one charge of second-degree murder and two charges of tampering with a dead body in the deaths of Linda Estrada, 44, and Amy Ford, 39, when he returns to Colorado, according to a Kiowa County arrest affidavit.

Lieurance is detained in the Lyons County Jail in Kansas on charges unrelated to the Colorado homicides, including vehicular assault and other traffic violations.

Kiowa County sheriff’s deputies issued an arrest warrant for Lieurance in connection with the deaths of the Kansas women after their remains were found by law enforcement in rural eastern Colorado on Sept. 20.

Lieurance told Kiowa County deputies that the two women had gotten into a fight in his vehicle while he was driving on Interstate 70, and he pulled off the road when it escalated to punches being thrown, the affidavit stated.

According to the affidavit, Lieurance told Kiowa County deputies that the two women got out of the truck and Ford picked up a rock and hit Estrada in the head with it. Lieurance claimed that he ran into Ford with his truck to try and break up the fight, hitting her with the front driver’s side of the vehicle.

Lieurance then moved the two bodies to a remote area to hide them from law enforcement, the arrest affidavit stated.

The two women were reported missing in Kansas on Sept. 11, and on Sept. 16, Kansas officials reached out to the Kiowa County Sheriff’s Office to open up a multi-state missing persons investigation.

Lieurance had been arrested returning to Emporia on Sept. 10 when he intentionally rammed into multiple cars on the road and was taken into custody by the Lyons County Sheriff’s Office in Kansas, according to the arrest affidavit.

When Emporia officers towed Lieurance’s car after his arrest, they noticed what looked like blood stains on the center console, passenger seat and rear area of the car, the arrest affidavit stated.

After finding knives, needles and two cellphones in the car, Kansas officials were worried Lieurance had dumped the women’s bodies and traced the phones’ movement back to Kiowa County using cellular data and security videos, according to the affidavit.

According to a search warrant from the Emporia Police Department, Ford called 911 from a gas station in Denver, claiming that Lieurance had made threats to kill her and Estrada, and threatened them with a knife. By the time Denver police arrived, Ford was gone.

Investigators from the Kiowa County Sheriff’s Office also noted a hang-up 911 call that the sheriff’s office received Sept. 10 in the arrest affidavit. During the initial call, dispatchers could hear a female voice saying something about 911 and screaming in distress.

According to the affidavit, when the phone call disconnected, a 911 dispatcher attempted to call the number back, but a male voice answered. He claimed everything was fine, but refused to give a name or address before hanging up. Dispatchers were unable to reach anyone at that number again.

Lieurance confessed to at least one homicide during a Sept. 18 interview with Kansas officers, telling police they would find the bodies southwest of Eads next to a cow pond, the arrest affidavit stated.

The following morning, Deputy Avery Snover with the Kiowa County Sheriff’s Office gathered a search party to begin looking for the two women in the area Lieurance described, but deputies were unable to find anything, according to the affidavit. Later that day, Lieurance told Emporia detectives that he wanted to voluntarily show Colorado law enforcement where the bodies were.

On Sept. 20, Lieurance arrived in Colorado under a police escort and led officers to the women’s bodies.

Lieurance has not been officially charged by the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Colorado as the case remains under investigation, a spokesperson for the department said Monday. He is awaiting a Jan. 19 sentencing hearing for his charges in Kansas.

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Susan Baffour, a 63-year-old woman from Denver, pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse, a Class 2 Felony, on Oct. 16 — a plea deal that dropped the charge of first-degree murder from her case, according to the district court case file.

On Nov. 27, Denver District Judge Alex Myers sentenced Baffour to 36 years in prison, 5 years of mandatory parole and $1,928.50 in monetary fines. Myers could have sentenced Baffour to a maximum 48 years in prison.

“Dametrious Wilson’s death was a terrible tragedy for his family and friends and for the entire City of Denver,” District Attorney Beth McCann said in an emailed statement. “This sentence all but ensures that Susan Baffour will never be able to hurt anyone again. I want to thank the prosecutors and investigators in my office, as well as the detectives with the Denver Police Department, whose hard work on the case brought about this successful resolution.”

Just before 8:30 a.m. on June 3, 2022, Denver police officers responded to an apartment in the 1900 block of North Ulster Street, where 8-year-old Dametrious Wilson was found unconscious after Baffour beat him with a wooden back scrubber the night before.

According to the arrest affidavit, Baffour wanted to discipline Wilson for tearing part of her couch.

After taking him with her to Home Depot to get supplies, Baffour used duct tape to bind Wilson’s arms and legs together and cover his mouth before hitting him more than 40 times with the back scrubber, the affidavit stated.

Baffour told police she treated Wilson’s injuries before bed, and he drank a glass of water overnight, the affidavit stated. When she checked on him around 8 a.m., he would not wake up and she attempted to give CPR compressions.

At 8:41 a.m., paramedics pronounced Wilson dead at the scene.

Baffour had been awarded custody over Wilson and his now-11-year-old sister in 2017 because their mother was unable to care for them, according to the arrest affidavit.

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The Denver Police Department announced just after 10 a.m. that a woman had died of her injuries at a hospital and that they were investigating the shooting near the intersection of North Federal Boulevard and West 2nd Avenue as a homicide.

Police officers found the woman when they responded to the shooting, according to a 12:29 a.m. Monday post on X.

The woman was taken to the hospital by paramedics while officers remained at the scene for the investigation and to develop suspect information, the department’s post stated.

Detectives also learned another victim went to the hospital on their own. That person’s injuries are not clear, and details about their identity, including their age and gender, were not available.

Anyone with information should contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or file an anonymous report online.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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The crash happened in the area of East Colfax Avenue and Elm Street, the Denver Police Department posted on social media at 3:44 p.m. Sunday.

Police did not specify the number or type of vehicles involved in the crash, or which party was sent to the hospital.

Drivers should expect delays in the area and take alternate routes if possible.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Edgewater Chief of Police Eric Sonstegard said it appeared the shooting took place inside an apartment in the 2700 block of Ingalls Street and that several people wrestled with the shooter to subdue him.

Sonstegard said police believe there were at least six people in the apartment at the time of the shooting, but there could have been more that officers are working to identify.

The other individuals in the apartment subdued the alleged shooter, leaving the 29-year-old Denver man with traumatic injuries, Sonstegard said.

It appeared to be a large gathering or party with friends and alcohol, and the suspect was an invited guest, he said.

Officers who responded to the scene just after 5:15 a.m. Sunday found a 29-year-old Edgewater man with a gunshot wound and the suspect with head trauma, according to a Sunday release from the police department.

Paramedics administered medical care to the gunshot victim at the scene, but he died from his injuries. The victim’s identity and cause of death will be released by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.

Emergency personnel took the suspect to a local hospital, where he remains in critical condition and intubated, Sonstegard said.

Police are unaware of any possible motive that might have led to the shooting and have been unable to speak with the suspect due to his condition, but the preliminary investigation suggested the suspect had gotten into an altercation with the victim before the shooting.

“The suspect was present in the apartment and known to the other people there, this wasn’t some random person bursting in,” Sonstegard said.

Anyone with information about the shooting should contact police investigators at 720-763-3024 or Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.

This is a developing story.

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4:36 p.m.: Westbound Interstate 70 at Golden has reopened to traffic.

Interstate 70 was closed in several places across Colorado on Friday for crashes as a winter storm moved across the mountains and into metro Denver.

Eastbound I-70 was closed at Glenwood Springs through Glenwood Canyon to exit 129 for Bair Ranch due to a pileup crash at Hanging Lake tunnel, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. The closure was reported at 2:20 p.m.

An 18-vehicle pileup closed westbound I-70 between west Parachute and De Beque as of 11:08 a.m.

Westbound I-70 in Golden is closed at C-470 after an oversized tractor-trailer hit a bridge Friday morning, according to the Colorado State Patrol. Traffic is being diverted.

This is a developing story. 

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The 35-year-old woman turned herself in for a charge of driving while ability impaired on Nov. 6 and was transferred to an off-site work release facility Nov. 15. She had a release date of Dec. 23, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a Wednesday news release.

There were no indications of foul play, according to the news release.

The Lakewood Police Department is investigating, and the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office will determine the cause of death.

None of the injuries were life-threatening, said Master Trooper Gary Cutler. The crash involved 17 passenger vehicles and four semi-trucks.

CDOT reported the closure between exit 72 for west Parachute and exit 62 for De Beque at 11:08 a.m.. The highway did not reopen until 5:42 p.m., according to the agency’s website.

The highway was also closed in both directions at Glenwood Springs due to a crash, according to the agency, and westbound lanes in Golden were closed because a tractor-trailer hit a bridge.

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The arrests were the result of two law enforcement investigations conducted by the Denver District Attorney’s Office, Denver Police Department, Aurora Police Department, FBI, ATF, the Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement Network and the Violent Criminal Enterprise Task Force, according to a district attorney’s office news release.

“These arrests send an unmistakable message that law enforcement agencies throughout the Denver metro area are committed to working together to disrupt and disband dangerous criminal organizations. The streets of Denver are safer today because of these two investigations and I am grateful to the many law enforcement officers who have worked so hard on these cases to get us to this point,” McCann said.

About $780,000 of cash and property were stolen, and the members also now face charges of aggravated robbery, kidnapping, illegal possession of firearms and violating the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act.

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The highway was closed for more than five hours on Friday after the Colorado State Patrol reported the closure in Golden at 11:06 a.m. Traffic was diverted to Colorado 470.

No injuries were reported and the Colorado Department of Transportation responded to the bridge.

The truck that was wedged under the bridge was carrying an 80,000-pound load, the state patrol posted on X.

Interstate 70 was also entirely shut down for about four hours in Glenwood Springs due to a crash, and westbound lanes are closed in DeBeque due to an 18-car pileup.